Mel Krieger Passes

He moved with his wife Fanny and their two children to San Francisco in 1964 where he joined the Golden Gate Casting Club and became an avid tournament caster.

His true calling as a teacher became apparent when he began tutoring a 10-year-old named Steve Rajeff. Krieger's most famous student went on to win the All-Around World Casting Championship at the age of 16 and over time became the greatest competitive caster in the history of the sport.

Mel's own competitive zeal paid off when he won a casting tournament with a first-place prize of a trip to New Zealand. After this first trip to New Zealand, Mel and Fanny created--in 1968--their popular angler-to-angler travel program and later the Mel Krieger International School of fly fishing.

Mel has taught in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. His book The Essence of Flycasting (Club Pacific, 1987), and DVDs The Essence of Flycasting, The Essence of Flycasting II, The Essence of Spey Casting, and Beginnings were widely acclaimed and became casting instruction standards for casting schools worldwide. He has written for Fly Fisherman magazine for decades, most recently "The Pull through Casting Stroke" (December, 2005) and appeared on the cover of Fly Fisherman (playing a leaping largemouth bass) in July 1984.

Mel was not only a great teacher who simplified things for beginners and made casting fun, he was also an entertainer who passed along an infectious enthusiasm for fishing and casting.

He was an active member of the Federation of Fly Fishers and was influential in creating the FFF Flycasting Certification Program. In 1994, he was inducted into the FFF Northern California Council Hall of Fame and in 2006 he received the FFF's highest honor, The Order of the Lapis Lazuli award--in recognition of long-term, extraordinary service to the FFF.

Mel was ill the last 4 months of his life, and in the hospital for 2 ∏ months. He was undiagnosed until the last week of September when a brain MRI and biopsy revealed a brain lymphoma.

He passed away peacefully--at his home in San Francisco--on October 7, 2008 at 3:30 A.M., at the age of 80.

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